Des Moines police used a stun gun Tuesday to stop a hammer-swinging man bent on destroying sculptures at the Robert D. Ray Asian Gardens in downtown Iowa.

KCCI anchor Mollie Cooney and former KCCI anchor Kevin Cooney were riding their bikes past the Des Moines River landmark when they noticed the man. At first, they thought he was a worker doing repairs.

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The man then began to smash sculptures and other items around the gardens.

“We were yelling at him, 'The police are coming! The police are coming!’ but it didn’t faze him,” Mollie Cooney said.

“And I pleaded with him to stop,” Kevin Cooney said.

Kevin Cooney can be heard trying to talk to the man so that he would stop.

“Let me take the hammer and then we can stop and talk, OK?” Kevin said in the cellphone video.

The cellphone video shows the man kept going, much to the horror of other witnesses.

“It's just kind of sad to see this happen and very scary to watch it,” witness Atheena Schwers said.

Cellphone video taken by Kevin Cooney shows the moment the police arrived. Des Moines officers used a stun gun on the man after he refused to put the hammer down.

Seconds later, the vandal appeared to shout the phrase, “one good and one no good,” but it is unclear what he meant.

Ken Quinn, CEO of the World Food Prize was one of several leaders who helped bring the garden to Des Moines from China in 2009. He said he was devastated to hear about the damage.

“Well I was watching Channel 8 News at 6 and I hear all of the sudden were these terrible images of this crazed person,” Quinn said. “They're breaking the beautiful, sculpted pieces off and hitting them with a sledgehammer and my heart broke.”

The man is now under arrest, but it is still unclear why he vandalized the garden. There is no word yet on any charges.